Mena is home now, in her blue cape. She keeps trying to groom but fails. This is good and bad. Right now, all of the cats are randomly hissy at each other. First it was Mena. It’s the drugs. Now, it’s mostly Isis and she’s hissing at everyone. I’m pretty sure it is a dominance thing. Plus, Mena’s cape makes her look bigger than she is.

Thank you everyone who helped raise money for Mena’s surgery. You all helped raise about $400. Between that, my extra hours, and my patron, we’re squeaking through. We’re still hoping to sell the bar to cover the rest and the follow up visit.

We’ve decided to keep the Apocalypse Ink Productions book sale going through the middle of May. Partly as a “thank you!” and partly in prep of the release of CHILDREN OF ANU. I’m really-really glad she’s home.

Just got back from visiting Mena at the vet. They need to keep her another night to make sure her pain is managed and to make sure the surgery wound is healing as expected. Mena is on serious drugs and is feeling no pain. At the same time, she really, really wanted to be with me but also wanted her box (aka the litter box—I can see why they leave so little litter in there and clean it immediately).

She knew me as soon as I came in and was both very meowy and purring. She couldn’t get comfortable but was happy to see me. She insisted on having me hold her from time to time and kept trying to rub her wound on me. This freaked me out. I mean, I’ve been dealing with an open leg wound since February and the idea of rubbing is just… not gonna think about it.

Mena will be on a pain patch for two weeks. I’m glad. That surgery wound looks awful to me. It’s open down the side of her face. The skin is suppose to close and the hair is suppose to camouflage the surgical scar. But, everything is reacting as expected.

This morning I dropped Mena off for the first of two surgeries she needs to fix her ears. She has congenital stenosis of the ear canal in both ears and I wrote about it here. I’m pretty freaked out about it all. My kitty’s in surgery. My pet insurance won’t cover it. The cost of this first surgery with its follow-up appointments is estimated at $2000. It could be more. It could be a little less.

As soon as I found out about this, I went into crisis problem solving mode. I wrangled more hours at my pays-the-bills job and we decided to sell our marble top bar (Seattle area). Then, unexpectedly, a patron stepped forward to help us out financially. I’m so grateful. Things aren’t nearly as dire as they first were and I can focus on Mena.

The Husband and I decided that we were going to do an Apocalypse Ink Productions book sale to supplement our funds, to say thank you to our fans, and to put CALLER UNKNOWN, the first book in the Karen Wilson Chronicles on sale since CHILDREN OF ANU, book two in the series comes out in about two months.

Apocalypse Ink Productions is having a 30% off sale for everything in the AIP store. Just use the code MENA. We also added a choose-your-own-level donation product if you just want to help out. We’ll keep the Mena page updated with pictures and progress.

If nothing else, good vibes and prayers for my broken kitty are appreciated.